Fighters put on a show in Box Cup

THE gloves came off – so that fighters from two of London’s top amateur boxing clubs could hold the medals that they won at the 10th annual Haringey Box Cup.

Hard-hitting talents from St Pancras Boxing Club and Islington Boxing Club stepped into the ring at Alexandra Palace for the weekend showpiece, which culminated in a series of thrilling finals on Sunday.

Competing in the Under-57kg Female Class C championships, Sunni Torgman struck gold to continue Islington’s superb record of claiming at least one title each year since the event began in 2007.

Torgman, who only made her competitive debut in January, followed up the gold medal that she won at the Golden Girls Box Cup in Sweden in February by beating Natalia Rok from Stonebridge ABC in Sunday’s final.

Having impressively beaten the Royal Air Force’s Emily Hodges in the semi-finals, Torgman went into the showdown in confident mood.

In a closely-fought contest, the Islington fighter showed good shot selection as she did just enough to earn the victory via a split decision.

Shaun Thomas and Sunni Torgman

Adopted Islington boxer Shaun Thomas, who was competing in the Under-60kg Senior Class B category, stepped between the ropes represented his new Australian club, Collingwood BC, and also came away with a deserved gold medal.

Thomas, who represented Islington on their last dinner show, defeated Cole Johnson from Orme ABC in a unanimous decision win in the quarter-finals, before beating Guernsey Amalgamated ABC’s Niall Adams in the semi-finals via a split decision.

In the final Thomas wore down Antreas Gkazianis from Stonebridge ABC with fast combination punches to earn a unanimous decision victory.

Meanwhile coaches Lewis Fattahi and CJ Hussein saw their fighter, Sherifdeen Lawal, just miss out on gold in his bout in the Under-75kg Senior Class A category.

The Saints man showed his all-round strength as he beat Aaron Achong from Rumbles Boxing Academy via a split decision in the quarter-finals.

He then dominated his final four showdown against Ryan Kettle from Miguels ABC to earn another impressive win.

In the end, Lawal returned home with a silver medal after losing to Stonebridge ABC’s Andrei Dascaluan via a unanimous decision following an energy-sapping final.